Page 101 of Threat of Danger
He caught her shoulder underwater and brought her back up, relieved when she coughed. He angled his body toward shore, but the current was too strong. They were nearly at the river bend by the time he succeeded, working with the river to let the current carry them to shore.
He carried her out of the water in his arms, grateful that he could stand. His ankle wasn’t broken, after all, and the ice-cold water had done it good. Pain shot up his leg, but at least he could walk.
She was too damn limp.
He held her tighter against his chest. “We made it. You hear me?”
Since she was barefoot, he didn’t want to set her down. She’d kicked her shoes off in the river. Derek had kept on his military boots, the soles made of a buoyant material that wouldn’t drag him down, meant for situations just like this.
“I have you, Jess.” He carried her off the rocks, and they collapsed in a heap on the first patch of dry ground. She rolled onto her back and kept coughing. He cut the plastic tie from her hands, then checked his radio and his cell phone, both still miraculously in his pockets. His good luck ended there. They were both dead. The swim in the river had done the electronics no favor.
He pushed to his knees and began rubbing Jess’s bare limbs for heat. Rescue might be a while yet. “Come on. Say something.”
“Kaylee?” The word left her near-purple mouth in a weak whisper.
“Should be with the cops by now.” He told Jess about the Versquatchers and how he’d found the girl. Then he pushed to his feet and began swinging his arms. He was freezing too. “If you can move, it’d be better to move. Try.”
“You’re a freaking drill sergeant.” But she sat up.
He reached out his hand. She let him pull her to her feet.
His gaze fell to the wound on her lower stomach and waist, a deep scratch, but not a serious cut. He didn’t think she’d need stitches. His gaze fell lower. The river had washed the blood out of her torn panties.
“How long did he have you?” he asked gently, when he wanted to roar and rage. “Did he ... hurt you?”
She followed his gaze, then looked up. “Not like that. The grate fell in and scratched me.”
He could breathe again. The blood haze cleared from his eyes.
“I’m fine,” she told him. “I swear.” But even as she said the words, she shivered.
“I’d offer my coat, but I don’t think it’d be an improvement.”
“You just like seeing me in my underwear.”
“That too. But I’d like to see you even more out of it. Come on.”
They moved back from the river, to the edge of the woods where they sat in the shelter of a fallen log. The log was at least three feet in diameter and blocked most of the cold breeze coming off the water.
Derek collected all the fallen branches within reach. Without having to be told, Jess scooped some of last fall’s dry leaves from under the log. Derek found a suitable pair of sticks and began rubbing them together.
“Learn that in SEAL training?” she asked.
He grinned at her. “Boy Scouts.”
She watched him, shivering. “What are you so happy about?”
“Happy that you’re alive. I could break out in song and dance.”
Her teeth chattered as she said, “Let’s not scare the wildlife.”
How could any man not fall in love with a woman who could keep a sense of humor in a situation like this? Derek wanted to draw her into his arms, but he needed to see to the fire first.
The bottom stick began to glow. Jess touched the tip of a dry leaf to the spot until the brown maple leaf caught on fire. She set the burning leaf in the nest of a handful of others. In five minutes, they had the beginning of some much-needed heat.
Derek drove half a dozen sticks into the ground around the fire and stripped, hanging his clothes to dry. He left nothing on his body. No sense having wet cloth against his skin.
He flashed Jess an expectant look.
